Nutrition Specialist
JOB TITLE: Public Health Nutritionist JOB DESCRIPTION: Supervise WIC Clinic, certifiy participants as eligible for the program, provide individual nutrition counseling, teach nutrition to group classes, provide training to employees, coordinate with administrative office and other public health facilities. DESCRIBE A TYPICAL DAY: Open clinic, meet with employees to discuss the days schedule, report to administrative office regarding time sheets for employees and daily schedule of participants to be seen. My clinic typically provided service to between 5000-7000 participants monthly with a staff of 13 employees. Run reports for the morning, ensure that all stations are up and running and ready to see participants. Begin to see participants by certifying them as income eligible, perform height, weight, bloodwork and diet/health history. Review paperwork and counsel participants on nutriton education, enter information into the computer and issue food vouchers to participant. Teach nutrition education classes. Handle complaints of participants and resolve any employee issues. Provide referrals to other public health facilities. Close clinic and ensure that all stations are ready for the next day. Run & review daily reports, reconcile voucher and formula inventory, sign time sheets. Coordinate staffing for the next day. ''' DESCRIBE A NON-TYICAL DAY: '''Monthly and yearly audits. Once a month clinics are closed for employee training. This program is administered by the City, regulated by the State and funded by the Federal Government. All entities performed audits of each clinic throughout the year. HOURS WORKED PER WEEK: 40-44 hours HOURS SPENT IN FRONT OF A COMPUTER: Varies depending on staffing and caseload-about 4 hours COMPENSATION: Started at around $28,000 ended with $50,000 HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN EMPLOYED HERE/TYPICAL LIFE CYCLE: 13 and 1/2 years HEALTH BENEFITS/HEATH HAZARDS: Full coverage health insurance and Texas municipal Retirement System ''' CULTURE AT WORK: '''This public health program is designed to provide food vouchers, referrals, and nutrition information to low income families. Most employees working for this program have been employeed with the city for several years. STRESS LEVEL: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10--- DEPENDS ON THE DAY-USUALLY AROUND AN 8 WHAT DO YOU LOVE: Helping participants who had little means to provide food for their families and nutrition counseling. WHAT DO YOU HATE: Enormous amounts of PAPERWORK, unruly participants and burned out employees. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO BE GOOD: Have to be a strong, ethical leader, multitask, have great communication, patience and people skills. ''' IS IT WHAT YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE: '''Yes, in the begining---------Public heatlh is not for everyone! WHAT DID YOU DO TO GET HERE/SCHOOL/TRADES/WORKING UP: Completed a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition WOULD YOU TELL YOUR KID TO CHOOSE THE CAREER: ' I think it is a great place to start for a person who has just graduated from college. It is a good alternative for someone who is not into a very clinical environment. I started out as a Nutritionist, supervising a clinic with 13 employees. Within the 13 and 1/2 years of working for the program, I moved up to a Nutritionist Supervisor overseeing 5 clinics and then to the Nutrtion Education Coordinator where I was incharge of all aspects of nutriton education for all 15 clinics.'